Chicago Cubs

In Wild Card Lead

Monday: 5-2 win over Montreal (W: Maddux, L: Biddle, S: Hawkins)

Tuesday: 8-0 loss to Montreal (W: Hernandez, L: Prior)

Wednesday: Kerry Wood @ Montreal (vs Downs)

Thursday: Off

Weekend: Takin a trip to JRS

 

San Diego Padres

.5 games back of Wild Card Lead

Monday: Off

Tuesday: 9-3 loss to St. Louis (W: Williams, L: Lawrence)

Wednesday: Adam Eaton @ St. Louis (Carpenter)

Thursday: Jake Peavy @ St. Louis (Suppan)

Weekend: Home against Colorado

 

San Francisco Giants

1 game back of Wild Card Lead

Monday: 7-6 Loss to Atlanta (W: Colon, L: Hermanson)

Tuesday: Tomko vs Colorado (Francis)

Wednesday: Rueter vs Colorado (Wright)

Thursday: Jason Schmidt vs Colorado (Kennedy)

Weekend: Home against Arizona

 

Florida Marlins

3 games back of Wild Card Lead

Monday: 6-4 win over New York (W: Seanez, L: Bell, S: Benitez)

Tuesday: 5-0 win over New York (W: Beckett, L: Trachsel)

Wednesday: Ish Valdez @ New York (Glavine)

Thursday: Carl Pavano @ New York (Seo)

Weekend: Cubs come to Mota's House of Pain for a date with AJ, Trelle, Josh, and the Horsemen

 

Houston Astros

3 games back of Wild Card Lead

Monday: 11-3 win over Cincy (W: Munro, L: Norton)

Tuesday: 8-0 win over Cincy (W: Backe , L: Harang)

Wednesday: Oswalt @ Cincy (Wilson)

Thursday: Off

Weekend: Home at the Maid to face Pitt

 

Philadelphia Phillies

7 games back of Wild Card Lead and barely clinging on to playoff life

Monday: 9-8 Loss to White Sox (W: Buerhle, L: Hernandez, S: Takatsu)

Tuesday: 5-3 Loss to Atlanta (W: Hampton, L: Milton)

Wednesday: Vicente Padilla vs Atlanta Braves (Wright)

Thursday: Off

Weekend: Home hosting the Mets

Weekend: Cubs come to Mota's House of Pain for a date with AJ, Trelle, Josh, and the Horsemen

I have a feeling Frances will stop that. :plain

Ever since we lost to the Pads in Game 1 or the Series before the Giants i have hated that Stupid Brian Lawrence

You wont have to worry about Lawrence, DTrain.. Cards will beat him up. I'm almost certain we'll take care of the Padres! Then again I feel I can say that about any team right now!

Beckett's gonna have to step up his game starting Tuesday.

I'm hoping the Cards can beat up on San Diego, and although the Cubs get Montreal we'll get a shot at them this weekend.

 

Unfortunately the Giants have an easy stretch coming up. I'm hoping the Braves can beat them Monday because after that San Fran has series against Colorado-Arizona-Colorado-Arizona-Milwaukee. Ugh.

 

As for the Florida-NY series, hopefully the Marlins can do better than a split. I'm not crazy about the pitching matchups, but the offense has come alive lately.

 

I'd like to see us going into the Cubs series at no more than 4 games out.

Beckett's gonna have to step up his game starting Tuesday.

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that's for real, that's no joke... pavs and aj have been phenomenal for us recently, but i don't know if we can get back into contention if beckett's not in playoff gear. we won't have aj in the mets series, so it's all the more important that jb step it up-

 

josh: time to get it on LOCKDOWN!

Giants won yesterday, there's a three way tie atop the wild card.

 

And the fun starts now.

Optimally today, we can pick up a game on both the Giants and Cubs (if the Braves and Expos come through) and .5 on the team that would then assume the Wild Card thrown, San Diego, as they head for St. Louis.

Beckett's gonna have to step up his game starting Tuesday.

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He could really do with a start similar to AJ's on Sunday.

Good quick inning to start and some run support early on.

 

I think it's a must that Beckett throws well.

Last season and the start of this year, the pitching staff said they feed off each other's good performances, trying to better the one before - Beckett has missed out here so far.

But surely he will see this and step up his game now.

Valdez threw well Friday :thumbup

Pavano threw comfortably Saturday

Burnett threw masterfully Sunday

Willis ?

Beckett ?

Willis will bring his A game tonight

 

Damn, in half an hour the hunt for the day starts anew.

Your 6:36 update:

 

The Giants fell to the Braves today 7-6, Hermanson blew a lead in the bottom of the ninth as the Braves scored two.

 

The Phillies fell to the White Sox in a make up game, 9-8. They fall another .5 back pending two more Wild Card fate deciding games tonight, and it looks like with a tough stretch this week they could officially be out of this thing by the time the teams switch opponents for Labor Day Weekend.

Your 9:42 update:

 

The Cubs held off a late charge from the Expos, and won today's game 5-2. They had to summon their closer, LaTroy Hawkins, after the tying run stepped into the on deck circle, but he took two pitches to get one out and close the deal. They step a half game up on the pads and gain a full game on the Giants.

 

The Astros are currently kicking the snot out of Cincy, 10-3 Houston heading to the bottom of the 8th from Great American Ballpark. Houston seems poised to pick up .5 on the Pads and a full game on the Astros, as far as pushing the Phils a game further behind them.

 

As we all know, the Marlins sit in the top of the 8th with Mota's House of Pain dealing, a 6-4 lead, and Armando's ghostly shadow looming in the darkness of the Queens' night.

Your 10:12 update:

 

Half an hour after the last update, here's where the Wild Card stands.

 

The Astros added an insurance run, then proceeded to snuff out a late charge by the Reds to win their game by the count of 11-3. Beltran, who looked seriously hurt yesterday, played today. He seems to be ok for their stretch run.

 

Three of the Four Horsemen had a part in today's W for the Fish, Seanez with a win, Mota with a hold, Benitez with a save. The Fish gained a game on the Giants, half on the Padres, put a game more between themselves and the Phils, and held their ground with Houston and Chicago.

 

At the end of Wild Card action today, the Cubs hold the lead by themselves as they continue their series with Montreal. The Padres are half a game back, heading to St. Louis tomorrow. The Giants slipped to one full game back, and they will be home against the Rockies on Tuesday. The Marlins continue to pace themselves at four back as they charge hard, will continue against the Mets tomorrow with Josh taking the hill. The equally hard charging Astros continue in Cincinnati, and the also-rans in Philly return home in a homestand that might decide alot more than just playoff fates in the city of brotherly love.

Lets see if St.Louis can knock those Padres out. I think it can happen. Right?

Today's first update (8:19):

 

Marlins currently hold a 2-0 lead in the middle of the fourth inning, but we all know that.

 

Livan is working the Cubs well, and the Spos have a 4-0 lead on los Cubbies (make that 5-0, Izturis just homered) in the bottom of the fourth inning. Prior has been banged up so far and might not be in the game much longer.

 

The Braves are edging the Phils right now 1-0 in the top of the 5th.

 

Houston has a 1-0 lead on Cincy as the Reds bat in the bottom of the 4th inning.

 

The Padres are just underway at St. Louis.

 

The Giants start at 10:15.

how 'bout them o's! :thumbup

The World at 9:24:

 

The Cubs are still down 5-0, and the Expos are threatening to add more with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the 7th inning. Livan continues to pitch well, but with 107 pitches through 7 shutout innings one would think he'll be pitching the eigth and that's all unless he has an extremely quick inning.

 

The Astros have padded their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the 7th inning, but the Reds have men in scoring position and don't seem to be going away without a fight.

 

The Braves continue to beat the Phils, but now the score is up to 5-1 (Philly finally got on the board).

 

Bottom of the 5th inning from the Show Me State, where St. Louis is already has a 3-1 lead and are seriously threatening to add more.

 

San Fran underway in about 45 minutes.

 

Montreal just added another run, 6-0.

Woohoo Pads and Cubs are losing. Too bad they Astros are right on our tail. Lets see about those Giants tonight.

Something I find funny.

 

Cubs ended the inning, Spos leading 8-0. But Tony Batista is 0-5 with 5 Ks :lol

lol :lol :lol

Your 10:15 update on the Wacky Wacky Wild Card:

 

The Expos finished off the Cubs 8-0. Livan ended up going 8 innings, Tucker finished the game for the Spos. And Tony Batista gets the reward for cookiest player today, earning the Titanium Sombrero (because he K'd 5 times AND his team won).

 

The Astros took off in the 9th inning, adding 5 to an already comfortable lead as they won 8-0. They were fueled by back to back to back homers earlier in the game from Beltran, Bagwell, and Berkman (Kent also had a solo shot earlier as their first four runs were on solo homers, Kent hit a two run homer to aid the 4 run outburst in the ninth).

 

The Cards chased Lawrence early, and after Blaine Neal have them 1.2 scoreless the Cards went right back on their relentless attack with Edmonds and Renteria going back to back, upping the score to 7-3. That's where we stand right now in the bottom of the 8th with one out and Admin Walker batting.

 

The Braves held off a late rally by Jim Thome and the Phils, and won their game 5-3. Philly gets lucky because the top teams aren't doing well, but they lost ground on the Fish and the Stros.

 

San Fran getting ready to take the field.

Pujols homers, 9-3 Cards.

i'm actually not worried about any team anymore.

 

 

 

we control our destiny.

 

 

 

teh giants will get an easy stretch to start september then face the gunfire to end the season.

 

 

the padres will have to deal with simlar crap as the giants ultimately.

 

 

we beat the cubbies 4 out of 6 games, we are in full control.

 

 

its all about controlling your destiny.

 

 

we are essentially in charge of our own destiny.

 

 

we are 2 back in teh only column that you cant make games up in and the only one that ultimately counts, losses.

 

 

Its win time.

i'm actually not worried about any team anymore.

 

 

 

we control our destiny.

 

 

 

teh giants will get an easy stretch to start september then face the gunfire to end the season.

 

 

the padres will have to deal with simlar crap as the giants ultimately.

 

 

we beat the cubbies 4 out of 6 games, we are in full control.

 

 

its all about controlling your destiny.

 

 

we are essentially in charge of our own destiny.

 

 

we are 2 back in teh only column that you cant make games up in and the only one that ultimately counts, losses.

 

 

Its win time.

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So true.

 

On the other note, the YANKEES GOT OWNED! 22-0

 

How embarrasing.